CBOT wheat hits 1-month low as crude dives and US weather improves
CHICAGO, April 8 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures fell to a one-month low on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, sending crude oil prices CLc1 tumbling.
CBOT May soft red winter wheat WK26 settled down 17-3/4 cents at $5.80-1/4 per bushel after dipping to $5.77, the contract's lowest since March 5.
K.C. May hard red winter wheat KWK26 ended down 12-1/4 cents at $5.95-1/4 a bushel and Minneapolis May spring wheat MWEK26 fell 17 cents to finish at $6.24 a bushel.
The break in crude oil appeared to trigger long liquidation in grain markets, analysts said. Managed commodity funds had established a small net long position in CBOT wheat futures by the week ended March 31, U.S. regulatory data showed, leaving the market open to long liquidation.
Wheat faced additional pressure from improving U.S. crop prospects, with rains expected in much of the central and southern Plains through this weekend.
Traders continued to digest a rising forecast of wheat output in Russia, the world's top exporter. Commodity data firm Argus on Tuesday raised its forecast of Russia's 2026/27 wheat crop to 88.7 million metric tons, from its November prediction of 86.5 million tons.
Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report on Thursday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the agency to slightly trim its forecast of U.S. 2025/26 wheat ending stocks and modestly raise its forecast of world wheat inventories.
Ahead of Thursday's weekly USDA export sales report, traders expected the government to report U.S. wheat sales in the week to April 2 at zero to 150,000 tons of old-crop wheat and 150,000 to 400,000 tons of new-crop wheat.
